Jackson City Commission Votes to Take Up Adopting a Non-Discrimination Ordinance

Equality Michigan stands in solidarity with Jackson City Commission and Jackson residents on effort to provide equal legal protection for LGBT people

JACKSON - On Tuesday, August 14, the Jackson City Commission voted to take up the issue of adopting an inclusive and equal non-discrimination ordinance. Equality Michigan, the state's only statewide anti-violence and advocacy organization serving specifically the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) communities, praises effort and encourages voters to communicate their support of the ordinance to city commissioners.

Jackson would join dozens of cities in Michigan already providing equal legal protection for LGBT people. Specifically the ordinance would ban discrimination of people based on a number of factors, including their sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. In recent months, similar ordinances have passed in Flint, Mount Pleasant, and Muskegon. Last year voters in Traverse City upheld their city's nondiscrimination ordinance.

A recent poll by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research shows that 73% of likely voters in the 2012 election support efforts to ban discrimination of LGBT people. The same poll showed that while the federal government, Michigan and many other states do not provide such protections, 80% of respondents inaccurately believed such protections were already in place on a federal level.

"The evidence is overwhelming that voters believe LGBT people deserve the same legal protections as any other population under threat of discrimination," said Roland Leggett II, director of field organizing for Equality Michigan. "While the anti-LGBT industry continues to fill their coffers by telling their donors distorted versions of history and falsely claiming these are special rights, the reality is voters are tired of their lies and are ready for equal protection for all people in Michigan."

Leaders of Michigan's anti-LGBT industry unsuccessfully tried to derail Tuesday's vote and have threaten to launch a smear campaign against Jackson's city commissioners. While no one representing those organizations were present for the vote, they sent a threatening and misleading email to city commissioners in the days letting up to the meeting.

###

Equality Michigan has worked passionately for over 20 years to achieve full equality and respect for all people in Michigan regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. For more information, visit www.equalitymi.org.